Change of Heart
by matsujunchann
Summary: On the brick of losing everything, she uncovered a secret scroll but at a high price. Now she's in a place where hope first began to dwindle and ends up in a fight against her feelings for a certain silver-haired jounin.
1. Prologue

**_Change of Heart_**

_On the brick of losing everything, she uncovered a secret scroll but at a high price. Now she's in a place where hope first began to dwindle and ends up in a fight against her feelings for a certain silver-haired jounin._

* * *

Prologue

* * *

To venture into the hidden village of Rain at night is not for the faint of heart. Long abandoned, and in much need of repair, it was surrounded by pens and stalls and fenced yards. Scared and soaked to the bone, she stalked ahead carrying a small grey sack containing the necessary ingredients for the seal to work. Her footsteps echoed into the chilling night as she descended into the cemetery. She shivered with every step; her emerald eyes gazed upon the tall dark tombstones giving her the abnormal impression that the tombs were staring accusingly back at her – almost as if the dead knew what she was up to.

She finally found what she had been looking for. The famous Rain's altar in which the villagers once came to pay their respect to the dead was now forsaken and in deterioration. According to the myth, at every new moon, the altar would connect with the other side allowing the villagers to communicate with their lost ones. Settling down her sack, Sakura made a circle of chalk in the dirty stone, marking it with the symbols of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Afterwards, she withdrew the kindling from the bag and proceeded to feed the fire with the herbs she had also brought.

Her eyes wept and nostrils burned but she cared not. The medic-nin reached out for the dark scroll in the bag and with a quick hand sign the scroll unveiled its contents. She swallowed hard as her shaking hands held the scroll in place; she scanned the hand signs instructions and memorized them. After she set the scroll on fire, she sat down in the middle of the circle. The wind regained its strength and began blowing irately. She forced herself to keep still, remembering why she was doing this in the first place. There were no more options. The great ninja alliance had failed and every single comrade lay dead in the battlefield. She attempted to supress her tears but they came anyway, as though they were joining forces with the present rain.

Naruto was dead.

And she was going to change that.

She pressed her hands together and formed the first hand signs. Her chakra flared up immediately and she could feel it being sucked away by an invisible force. She did not fight it. She performed the next hand signs and this time memories flashed through her head. A loud scream escaped from her lips as she felt the invisible force pry into her head. She saw her twelve-year old self following both Naruto and Sasuke through Konoha gates. The memory then changed to a much older Sakura practising with Tsunade-shishou on the training grounds. Her mother's funeral followed next.

Her eyes suddenly opened as the memories came to an abrupt stop. She was panting heavily, feeling weaker and weaker as her chakra was running low. She could feel her body grow numb and her breathing become more and more erratic. She forced her hands up and performed the last hand sign right before darkness took over her senses.

"_Please… save them… Naruto…"_

* * *

**Author's Note: Please take notice that this is just the prologue. The first chapter will come soon, I am just fixing some bits and then I will upload it! How did you like it so far? Interested to read more? Hmm? Please review! I will offer you Kakashi homemade cookies :3**


	2. Chapter 2

**Change of Heart**

_On the brick of losing everything, she uncovered a secret scroll but at a high price. Now she's in a place where hope first began to dwindle and ends up in a fight against her feelings for a certain silver-haired jounin._

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

As guests began to take their chairs, Minato Namikaze fet that little flutter of anxiety that he experienced whenever he had to make a speech of any kind. The room itself – the great council room – had been nicely appointed for the event.

"It's showtime," Kushina Uzumaki whispered in his ear; she was dressed in her usual green dress, but she had enlivened it for the occasion with the lovely necklace that the blond-haired man had purchased for her birthday.

Minato nodded and offered her a kind smile, "You didn't have to come,"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I wanted to," she placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed them gently, "This is for a good cause. Besides you're the only one who can convince those rich bastards to donate their money,"

He chuckled, "Shh. Those rich bastards as you call them are only part of the most powerful clans of this country,"

She snorted in response and gave him quick peck on the lips, "Go on now, they are waiting for you." She turned him around and pushed him towards the door, "Good luck!"

There was an appreciative murmur, followed by a bit of coughing and rustling as everyone settled into their seats. Minato strolled into the improvised podium and took his place facing the expectant crowd. His bright blue eyes stopped on the Hyuuga head-chief who offered an encouraging smile back at him. The fourth Hokage cleared his throat, "On behalf of our beloved Konoha I thank you all for coming here today-"

An elderly wag in the front row waved a check book in the air, and there was some polite laughter.

"You can put that away for now," Minato said, then added with a laugh, "But keep it handy."

He relaxed significantly when everyone laughed along. Even if the Uchiha clan was not present, he would not let it affect his job today. And his job was to get enough funds to improve the ninja academy as well the reconstruction of the west of the village. That side of the village hadn't had any improvement construction work on the past years.

His speech included his plans for the ninja academy; he wanted to increase the academy student's numbers, making sure that everyone in the room could see the reason in doing so. With the war having ended only a few years ago, their loss in ninja had been far too great, not to mention that the Country of Fire natal level had also suffered quite a big blow.

As he talked, he became not only more relaxed but also positively excited at everyone's reaction. The watching crowd seemed to drink every word he was saying and that made him more confident in the cause itself. Remembering, Kushina's advice, Minato tried his best to maintain some eye-contact with the audience and that's when he noted her. A short young girl dressed in jounin attire, her hair a startling pink colour. She was staring back at him, her green eyes burning with a frightening ferocity. For a second he lost the thread of what he was saying and had to glance down at his notes to remember where he was.

When he finally stepped down from the platform, several members of the audience shook his hand, the Hyuuga head-chief clapped his back and Sarutobi beamed at him. But what he wanted to do was to find that young kunoichi but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Minato," Sarutobi started, "I don't know if you've met the Nara's head-chief. He is also interested in making a small contribution,"

"How could I refuse Sarutobi? The Fourth Hokage sure knows how to convince an audience to do his bidding," and turning to meet Minato, the man smiled, "I quite enjoyed your talk."

"Thanks."

"The Nara clan has always been interested in the village's welfare and-"

Minato did his best to stay focused and courteous to the Nara's head-chief but his attention fell short when he saw the pink-haired girl again. She seemed to be engaged in a one-sided conversation with an excited Iruka Umino who was doing all the talking. She nodded politely every now and then but Minato did not miss the way she often looked around searchingly. He marched towards them and faked a cough to get their attention.

"Ah! Fourth Hokage!" Iruka exclaimed, his eyes beaming at the sight of the older man, "This is Sakura Haruno! She just got transferred from Rain!"

Minato blinked as he definitely didn't get a memo of a ninja transfer, especially from the Hidden Village of Rain. Suspicion instantly rose within him and he turned to have a better look at the kunoichi's face. Her green eyes met his in a challengingly fashion, almost as daring him to voice his doubts. He looked at her forehead and noticed the symbol of rain embed on the headband that was almost hidden away by her fringe.

Transfers were extremely rare but not unheard of. So he gave in to reason. Surely, she would not have made it past the gates keepers on her own. She must be some transfer ninja after all.

"Have you delivered your papers to the headquarters?" He asked her, offering her a small smile.

She shook her head, "I have not. Matsumoto-sama told me to come and deliver the papers to you but it seems he forgot that there was such an event today."

Minato chuckled and nodded, "Matsumoto did not forget. He is just lazy when it comes to paperwork,"

The young girl smiled politely, "How about tomorrow morning in Hokage-sama's office then?"

He blinked, somewhat caught off guard at her polite dismissal, "Yes, that would be okay."

"Well then, if you excuse me," she bowed her head in respect and did the same Iruka, "Good day."

Both men watched her walk through the crowd, her head held high in confidence. Minato couldn't stop the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he opened them again, a beautiful red-haired girl was looking at him fixedly, with a wide smile on her face.

"Ramen!" Kushina called out as she approached him.

Minato shook his head but smiled nevertheless. He did promise her to buy dinner. As he reached for both his and her jacket, he made a mental note to find out more about Sakura Haruno. He didn't know what, but something was incredibly off about her and he was going to find out what.

* * *

Sakura was still shaking when she arrived to her room. She sat on the edge of her bed, her fingers clutching to her pants. She was just face to face with Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage – more importantly – Naruto's father. She knew that the man was at least somewhat suspicious of her so-called transfer. But she was not scared, before going through with the jutsu that brought her to the past; she had made sure that all her charts contained the Hidden Village of Rain stamp giving them a more authentic look.

Slowly, she allowed herself to lie on the bed. Her stomach was growling, she had not eaten all day. But that had to wait. First things first, she needed to organize her next steps. She needed to keep herself close to the Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki. She also needed to investigate this Obito person. According to Kakashi-sensei, Obito had been his team mate who supposedly had died during the war. She turned around in bed and growled into the pillow.

She wanted to go back home. She didn't want to be here where she didn't know anyone. She felt utterly and desperately alone. But then again, back at home… Naruto was gone. And he… he had survived and he had forced his way into the Hokage position. The village that she once knew was gone. Most of her comrades had died during the war or trying to take the Hokage's title away from Sasuke Uchiha.

Her thoughts diverted back to that day when Kakashi-sensei appeared at her doorstep with that scroll. That day he had held her so tightly, almost afraid of what would happen if he ever let go. But it was his words that made her heart skip a beat.

_"This is not good bye. Sakura we will meet again. I can only hope that you will succeed this time."_

**_This time._**

Sakura sat up abruptly, eyes wide in trepidation. This time! What did he mean? Had he… had Kakashi met her before in the past?

* * *

For Kakashi, Sunday night had always meant dinner at Minori's house. And for years, he had looked forward to it. But those simple, happy days were gone. For the past year or more, it had been an increasingly fraught occasion. Minori had been battling a terrible illness, just as his own mother had done and like his mother, many years ago, she was losing the war. Minori, even though she was older than Kakashi, she looked like she was at death's door.

After his father death, when he was just a young boy, it was Minori who had pretty much raised him. He owed her everything and there was nothing he could do to help her now.

Nothing, it seemed that anyone could do.

He was just stamping the slush of his boots when she opened the door. Around her head, she was wearing a new silk scarf.

"Sakura-chan gave it to me," she said, reading his mind as always. Then noticing his confusion, she added, "She's renting the spare room and no! I know what you're going to say but I'm tired of being completely alone in this enormous house."

He let out a loud sigh. At least this time she had the good sense of renting the room to a fellow female.

"Well it looks nice," he said as she smoothed the silk along one side.

"Yeah, right," she said, welcoming him in, "Come on, dinner will be done soon."

"Minori-san! Are we opening this bottle of wine?"

Kakashi blinked at the sight of the young woman carrying the wine bottle in her hands. Her hair was pink and caught up in a neat bun. She was wearing a white dress that complimented her body. The girl stopped by the kitchen's door, her eyes wide in horror as she looked back at him.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as the bottle slipped through her fingers right onto the floor.

* * *

Sakura immediately crouched down, attempting to pick up the tiny pieces of glasses scattered around the floor. Her cheeks were burning and her heart was beating erratically. Kakashi-sensei was right there in front of her, his mask gone! All those years, she had been wondering what her sensei looked like under that annoying mask and now for some reason he was acquainted with her landlord-lady and right in front of her nose – without his mask on.

And damn. Kakashi-sensei was good-looking. There was something about those mismatched eyes that made him look even more handsome than he already was. He had a good nose too, not too big nor too small but it was his lips that she decided that she liked the most.

"Oh dear! That is quite alright. Here let me-"

"Minori," Kakashi cut her harshly, "I will help with the mess. Please prepare the table,"

Sakura looked up, narrowing her eyes at the tone he was using, "It's alright. I don't need your help."

Kakashi cocked a brow at the nerve of the little chit. Did she have any idea who she was talking to? Ignoring her, Kakashi exited the room only to return seconds later with a broom in his hand, "This goes faster."

He threw the broom at her and was slightly surprised when she easily caught it.

"Whatever." She muttered under her breath as she turned her back on him to hide her small smile. Who would have thought that a younger Kakashi was an outright arse.


End file.
